More Misadventure

Now the Art Misadventure #3 exhibition curated by Sarah McEwan of The CAD Factory has finished, I thought I'd show works by the other artists. (My work was discussed in this earlier post and the apple video I made is here.)

The premise of the exhibition was that by giving an artist an object to inspire the creation of a new work within three days, their processes would be revealed. I think the short timeframe meant the work was delivered without time to fully analyse the response and therefore didn't allow time for too much self-censorship.



My partner Jo Roberts was given a jar of antique buttons as her object and responded in collage to phrases she'd heard from older generations like "button that lip".



And also the phrase "what am I going to do with you? Cut off your head and sew on a button?"

While working on these collages she spoke about thinking of how women returned to domestic duties after WWII, when they'd assisted in the war effort by taking on the roles vacated by men fighting overseas.

 

Greg Pritchard, who's just finished his role as Western Riverina Arts Development Officer, was given a tablecloth with Babushka dolls as his object. This was cut-up and displayed on the walls and also used in an animation projected within his allocated space.



This video featured a Russian folk music soundtrack and was quite comical.

 

Narrandera Argus photographer Trent Light was given a box of sticks as his object and I recall a 'WTF?' look on his face when he first opened it.

He explained to me that he'd quickly settled on the idea of suspending the sticks and used a boy his mum babysat as a model for this image. The look on the kid's face was his reaction when he saw this installation in the studio and I think it works to put the viewer into the position of this child and share their sense of wonder.

 

Elizabeth Gay Campbell says in the exhibition catalogue that she danced with her object, a piece of 1970's aqua fabric, and settled on expressing this desire.
"Any who have been imprisoned in any way, be it spiritual, physical, addiction, depression or mental illness will have experienced that emotion as the bars have been taken away and chains released."


Emma Piltz received a tub of red house paint and wrote that with:
"So much beauty all around us, we don't always need to purchase it from a store, nature's gifts are everywhere..."


Isobel Maccallum picked the biggest object on the table and found the box was full of sawdust.



She describes the "delicious hit of forest" which led her to play with texture and form, creating "tiny frozen landscapes".

  

Julie Thompson-Briggs received an object I was relieved not to get, a book on ballet dancing.

Her three poems each had different tones, one quite brutal but the last is shown below and it was a lighter note to end on.

  

Kerri Weymouth was a bit dismissive of her work when I met her, saying she thought she'd invested little effort by working with materials she had at hand.

Her object was a champagne coloured map, which complemented an antique dress and became a skirt on a mannequin surrounded by other items of a similar era.



I didn't get to ask her about how she acquired these but Jo told me she noticed that older people walking past the window in which this was displayed would see these and their faces would soften, as if entering a reverie of memories. So it was a great drawcard for encouraging people into the gallery.



The Art Misadventure exhibition was a great experience. I'm grateful for the opportunity to share my work but also for being able to meet other local artists. The response was really good too.

Jason's theme



This thumping electronic tune has a message, that initial kick drum pattern is morse code spelling JASON.

Dragon cake

Fire-breathing boy's birthday cake

Automatic drawing and a fat genius



And because I ran out of space above, Eddie Campbell's murders are shown below.

You could make music with this

The reason I eat so slow

Get with the programme



This is an eloquently expressed sentiment from Kerri Weymouth in the programme for Art Misadventure #3.
The roads we follow or stumble across lead us to what will become our memories.

Thinking of apples



When I opened an old sketchbook to draw my Three Apples comic for the Art Misadventure #3 exhibition, I found this sketch of an apple from 1995.

Catching up



Posted photos and a review of Burning Seed a while back but I've been meaning to share this beaut picture of the Kids Camp dragon by my daughter.

Apple remix video



Here's the video I contributed to the Art Misadventure #3 exhibition.

Art Misadventure #3



For my part in Art Misadventure #3 I've been given three apples as inspiration, as well as an unusual piece of gallery space.

I've been fascinated by the premise of this exhibition, that by controlling the subject matter and exhibition space of the artists, their processes will be revealed.
This exhibition is an inquiry into deconstructing creative practice. To explore this the artists will have to relinquish some control of their making and abide by a set of constraints designed by the curator.'

The three apples have allowed me to explore the mediums I had in mind, particularly audio-video and comics.



This comic shows a scene from a story in the One Thousand and One Nights collection, where Scheherazade tells a tale which features three apples. The story interested me because it ends with one character being revealed for being lazy and, when he's instructed to find something, he waits for it to come to him.
The story has been described as a "whodunit" murder mystery with multiple plot twists. However, although the story has detective fiction elements, it lacks a detective, in that the person charged with investigating the murder, Ja'far, does nothing to solve the crime, but in both cases sits at home awaiting his fate.

This reflects my process in some ways. When we were brought together for this exhibition I waited a while before taking a numbered seat, taking one that was left next to my partner. When we were encouraged to select the package holding our inspiration, I waited until others had chosen theirs and I think this strategy served me well. Brian Eno says the first part of any project is scoping the constraints, establishing the parameters as much as the resources available. Good karma too.

And what have I got to show for myself? Here's how my apple remix sounds.

Tomato juice with attitude



Like the body language in this V8 Juice ad from 1949.

Determination powers your ACTION



This is a sign my mum left on one of her visits and the message often gives me pause to contemplate.

A small discovery



See the short video of my circuit bent toys here.

Pic of Vic



Seems I've got a photo in the current Autumn edition of Art + Australia.

The review is for the Uncovered: uncovered night of performance organised by The CAD Factory, which I covered and mentioned earlier on this blog. 'Twas a great night too.

Circuit bent jam



Had a play with a few toys today, hooking up circuit bent Omnichord and Casio with the Mochika and sampling them on my Kaoss Pad.

Fankx remix Breaking Bad (no spoilers!)



My friends Fankx, who brought their production to my local Mountford Park on this recent album, have remixed Breaking Bad. These scenes are from the fifth season but do not contain any major spoilers.

Many, many people are anxiously awaiting the return in July. In the meantime, there are many great moments to revisit and remix.

Meat puppets



Edit: The Irrigator have now published the pic I drew above.